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SINGAPORE: Non-professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) experienced a higher unemployment rate compared to PMETs, as industries worst affected by COVID-19 had a higher concentration of non-PMETs, more recent data from the Ministry Manpower (MOM) showed.
The resident unemployment rate among non-PMETs increased by 1.7 percentage points from 4.7% in June 2019 to 6.4% in June 2020.
Among their professional counterparts, that rate increased just 0.6 percentage points, from 2.9% to 3.5% in the same period, according to MOM’s Singapore 2020 Workforce Advance Release report released Thursday (3 from December).
However, MOM said those numbers were still below what was seen during the SARS outbreak and the global financial crisis. In 2004, unemployment stood at 6.7% and 4.1% for non-PMET and PMET, respectively, and 6.9% and 3.9% in 2009.
Industries hardest hit by COVID-19 faced more job cuts. In front-line sectors such as accommodation, retail, and food and beverage services, the unemployment rate increased by 5 percentage points, 2.2 percentage points, and 1.8 percentage points, respectively.
Among non-PMETs, unemployment rates rose sharply in all age groups.
And although the rise in the unemployment rate among PMETs was relatively narrower, executives aged 50 and over experienced a rise in unemployment, from 3.2% in June of last year to 4.3% in June of this year.
The report says that unemployment between the two groups is largely due to short-term unemployment, as long-term unemployment (25 weeks or more) grew at a lower rate.
The share of PMETs in the resident workforce continued to rise, from 58.4% in 2019 to 59.9% this year, as sectors with more PMETs faced fewer headwinds from COVID-19.
Non-PMET employment also fell, from 41.6% to 40.2% year-on-year, as it was affected by sectors most affected by COVID-19 that tend to hire more non-PMETs.
This year, more of them were also in conditions of casual or on-call employment rather than permanent and fixed contracts, due to increased demand for delivery, e-commerce and security services, according to the report.
SMALLER CHECKS
Real median income growth among residents with full-time employment contracted by 0.3%, after growing by 2.2% in 2019.
The nominal median income, unadjusted for inflation, of residents employed full time decreased from S $ 4,563 in 2019 to S $ 4,534 in 2020.
Income in the 20th percentile suffered further losses, as real income growth contracted by 4.5%. Nominal income slipped from S $ 2,457 to S $ 2,340.
MOM said that the industries that were most affected by COVID-19 have a high concentration of low-income people.
The incomes of low-income self-employed workers, such as taxi drivers and private rental car drivers, and street vendors, were also affected by falling tourist arrivals, work-from-home arrangements, and disruption in dining room services during the ‘breaker’.
However, MOM said that after including payments from Workfare, income supplements for low-wage workers, the income level of the 20th percentile in 2020, at S $ 2,449, is similar to the 2019 level of S $ 2,457.
Real income growth in the median and 20th percentile increased 2.7% and 2.9%, respectively.
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